Man/Woman/Chainsaw don’t exactly ease their toes into the water on the debut Cannonball, they come flying off the high dive with 11 songs that sound as though someone handed a group of restless young musicians an unlimited supply of adrenaline and told them to do whatever they want, just make it interesting.

Produced by Margo Broom, whose credits include Fat White Family and Big Joanie, alongside Seth Evans of Geordie Greep and Black Midi fame, Cannonball is a remarkably confident first record. Singles “Only Girl” and “Nosedive” offer immediate entry points, but the album’s real thrill comes from how quickly it refuses to settle for being a debut. Songs lurch between unconventional structures, theatrical flourishes and enormous choruses, creating moments that can feel both carefully curated and gloriously out of control.

Years of relentless touring have sharpened their musical sixth sense, but Cannonball isn’t simply a document of a live band getting into a studio. It’s a young band aging before our eyes and discovering new dimensions in their songwriting, particularly in the muted spaces between the explosions.

“We were talking about having a whole record of bangers,” drummer Lola Cherry says, imagining something with pedal to the metal full-force aggression. Then reality intervened. “We soon realized we weren’t Rage Against The Machine,” she admits, and the band leaned into who they are instead. That decision may be the album’s secret weapon.

There’s a sense throughout Cannonball that the band understands exactly what makes young adulthood so combustible: the conviction that everything matters enormously, coupled with the nagging suspicion that you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. Man/Woman/Chainsaw turn that confusion into propulsion. These are fearless kids with an appetite for big hooks, strange arrangements and emotional extremes, and Cannonball captures them at the moment those things all come crashing together.